The Isola Comacina is the only island on Lake Como, in front of Ossuccio. Camminacittà, the walking-routes project of Iubilantes, has made it its path 1 of Ossuccio, «Una piccola isola tra la grande storia e antichi cammini»: it starts from the old Hospitale, covers the island on foot after the boat crossing and returns to the mainland along the Via Regina, as far as the church of San Giacomo. This guide follows its sequence and says, for each place, what you see and what you can really visit.
The data come from the Camminacittà pages, consulted on 5 October 2026 (updated in 2021): about 3.1 kilometres, 1 hour 40 on foot excluding visits and the boat transfer. A word on the season: according to the site of the Comune di Tremezzina, read in October 2026, the island opens from May to the end of October, every day from 10 to 18, with a paid entrance, and the Antiquarium museum Thursday to Sunday from 11 to 17. The island’s restaurant, bar and toilets are closed indefinitely, whereas Camminacittà, in 2021, listed them as the only refreshment points: it is wise to set out prepared.
The walk at a glance
| Stage | Length | Walking time | Elevation change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. From the Antiquarium car park to the landing stage | about 200 m | 5 minutes | none stated |
| 2. From landing on the island to the Casa Torre | about 400 m | 15 minutes | 15 m up |
| 3. The area of San Giovanni, to the baptistery | about 300 m | 10 minutes | 20 m up |
| 4. The ridge, to Santi Faustino e Giovita | about 500 m | 20 minutes | 10 m up, highest point 233 m |
| 5. The artists’ paradise, back to the landing stage | about 300 m | 10 minutes | none stated |
| 6. The Via Regina to San Giacomo | about 1,400 m | 40 minutes | none stated |
The Hospitale and the Antiquarium
The route starts at Ospitaletto di Ossuccio, from the paid car park just after the bell tower of Santa Maria Maddalena, which Camminacittà calls the symbol of the beauty of the Lario. A stretch of the Via Regina, cobbled, runs along the public park Opera Pia Giovio, with lawn and olive trees, used in summer as a lido. In about 120 metres you reach the entrance to the old Hospitale, where pilgrims and wayfarers were received. Under the portico of the church you see a frieze with monstrous animals, attributed to the first half of the 11th century and of unknown provenance, a 16th-century plaque recalling the link with the Giovio family and the fragment of a late-Roman funerary stele.
In the same complex is the Antiquarium of the Isola Comacina, opened in 2013: it is the visitor centre and the place where you buy the island’s entrance ticket. On the stairway going down to the lake, a corner with presses and a millstone for olives recalls the importance of olive growing on the Lario.
The crossing
At the bottom of the steps, on the quay in front of the landing stage, you wait for the boat: Camminacittà speaks of a private boat that links the shore with the island, with the fare paid on board. The site of the Comune di Pavia writes that you can embark from Ossuccio with a taxi boat, or from other places with the Navigazione Lago di Como boats. The crossing is excluded from the route’s time, and the sources consulted give no price.
From landing to the Casa Torre
You land at the western end of the Isola Comacina and, after a few steps, reach the info point in a wooden hut, where you buy or validate the ticket. The almost level path that follows is the «Viale del Poeta»: it runs along the north shore, and on the side away from the lake you see in the limestone rock the cuttings that Camminacittà interprets as the remains, presumably, of dwellings from a period between the late-Roman age and the 12th century. Then a steep climb of 79 steps leads to the eastern part of the island, and a path descending through the wood to the remains of the Casa Torre, with its base cut partly into the rock, which Camminacittà indicates as the best-preserved example of the island’s dwellings.
Sant’Eufemia, San Giovanni and the baptistery
The path of Sant’Eufemia climbs to the remains of the basilica of Sant’Eufemia, erected in 1031 by Bishop Litigerio and destroyed in 1169 by the people of Como: you see the outside of the apse with the crypt, the bases of the pillars of the three naves and a large lime tree grown among the stones. On the spur beside it stands the church of San Giovanni Battista, the only church that exists on the island today, and some fifteen metres from its left side the fenced area of the two-apsed baptistery of the 5th century.
The ridge
From the lawn next to the ruins the «Sentiero Archeologico» begins: it leads to the ridge, where you see the remains of Santa Maria col Portico (11th-12th century), the ruins of San Pietro in Castello, in the highest part of the island, and the apse of the Romanesque complex of Santi Faustino e Giovita. From the ridge, on the opposite shore, you can make out the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Soccorso with the Sacro Monte, a UNESCO site since 2003, the Abbazia dell’Acquafredda above Lenno and the bell tower of the parish church of Santi Eufemia e Vincenzo, where the inhabitants who survived 1169 moved the religious centre of the pieve.
The artists’ houses
From the complex of Santi Faustino e Giovita the «Sentiero degli artisti» descends to the artists’ houses, the three rationalist houses by Pietro Lingeri, which are seen from outside: you enter only on guided visits. Those who wish can continue along the eastern shore, with a view of the Punta del Balbianello. The return to the landing stage passes the info point.
From the boat to San Giacomo
Back on the mainland, stage 6 is the longest: 1.4 kilometres and about 40 minutes on the old Via Regina, with stairways and stepped mule tracks and two crossings of the Statale 340. Camminacittà passes the church of Sant’Agata, once dedicated to San Sisinnio, which keeps a Roman votive altar of the 2nd-3rd century dedicated to the inhabitants of ancient Ossuccio, the Ausuciates, and has a Romanesque bell tower. In the core of Spurano a sign marks the Greenway del Lago di Como, the pedestrian route of over ten kilometres that crosses seven comuni: the dedicated itinerary tells it. The walk ends at the church of San Giacomo, Romanesque, with remains of frescoes from the early 11th century.
Practical information
- Source of the data. Lengths, times, elevation changes and descriptions of the paths come from Camminacittà’s path 1 of Ossuccio and its six stages. This guide offers no GPS track.
- Ticket. Entrance to the island is paid: it is bought at the Antiquarium or at the automatic ticket office on the island, which accepts cards only; anyone without one risks fines (Comune di Tremezzina). Fares are on the island’s website.
- Season. Island from May to the end of October; for November we have found no openings. To be rechecked in spring.
- Cautions. For the stages on the island Camminacittà notes dirt paths, uneven steps, roots and outcropping rocks, and stretches with no protection at the edge.
- Parking. Camminacittà mentions the paved paid car park on the right side of the Statale Regina, for those coming from Como, just after the bell tower.
- Nearby. The Ospedaletto beach, the Sacro Monte of Ossuccio and the Abbey of the Acquafredda.
Sources
- Camminacittà, Ossuccio path 1: Una piccola isola tra la grande storia e antichi cammini
- Camminacittà, Ossuccio 1, stage 1, stage 2, stage 3, stage 4, stage 5 and stage 6
- Isola Comacina, official site of the Comune di Tremezzina
- Comune di Pavia, Mostra Longobardi: Isola Comacina - Antiquarium
- The sources for each stop are on their own pages.